SUPPORT MAGISTRATE DID NOT HAVE JURISDICTION TO REDUCE FATHER’S CHILD SUPPORT BY DISTRIBUTING A TAX REFUND (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department determined the Support Magistrate did not have jurisdiction to reduce father’s child support by distributing a tax refund:

We agree with the mother, however, that the court erred in denying her … objection to that part of the Support Magistrate’s order that, in effect, distributed half of the parties’ tax refund to the father by reducing his child support obligation by that amount. We have previously stated that “the jurisdiction of Family Court is generally limited to matters pertaining to child support and custody . . . , and tax deductions or exemptions are not an element of support”… . “[T]he father’s entitlement to claim the child[ren] as [] dependent[s] for income tax purposes is not an element of support set forth in Family Court Act article 4, and thus the court lacks jurisdiction” to distribute the parties’ tax refund … . Therefore, … we remit the matter to Family Court to recalculate the father’s child support obligation without regard to the parties’ income tax refund. Matter of Bashir v Brunner, 2019 NY Slip Op 00746, Fourth Dept 2-1-19